Business

Walmart is on a quest to make its in-store pickup process free of human interaction.

The big-box store is rolling out a giant self-serve kiosk tower for online orders to more than a dozen locations. Customers simply arrange their shipment ahead of time, visit the store, and access their order via a barcode scanner on the side of the machine. Each package is preloaded by workers.

The massive orange towers stand 16 feet tall by 8 feet wide and deliver items through a conveyor belt inside the contraption. Walmart began testing the system last fall in an Arkansas store near its headquarters.

Image: walmart

The device isn't the only giant vending machine being implemented as the retailer looks for ways to compete with Amazon's hyper-efficient service. Earlier this year, Walmart unveiled a similar, much larger storage unit for grocery orders.

Walmart is banking on its thousands of stores and army of store employees to serve as a key advantage in its ongoing war with the online shopping juggernaut. Other experiments that cater to these strengths include a program in which store workers deliver packages on the way home from work and a partnership with Uber for short-distance delivery orders.

Amazon's pending blockbuster deal to acquire Whole Foods will only up the ante as the company leverages its own major network of brick-and-mortar stores for the first time.

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